The Poly Experience

A Supersonic Breakthrough

From left: Kendrick Hu, Douglas Wong and Daryl Heng created a new Singapore record with their Ballistic Accelerator Device.

With an impressive breakthrough device, a new record has been set in Singapore by three Singapore Polytechnic (SP) graduates from the Diploma in Mechanical Engineering: Daryl Heng, Kendrick Hu and Douglas Wong.

These three graduates called their device the Ballistic Accelerator Device (BAD). The idea of a ping pong gun was mooted by their lecturer, Mr Leong Ying Wei, during their final year in SP. The young men took up Mr Leong’s suggestion and worked on BAD as their final-year project. It took three arduous months of putting the materials together and two days of testing for the team to finally succeed. A second trial was conducted in the presence of the media.

Impressively, BAD is able to launch a ping pong ball faster than the speed of sound, and with enough force to punch a hole right though a ping pong bat. A first in Singapore, it can fire an object faster than the speed of sound without the use of pyrotechnics or combustion, according to the Singapore Book of Records. “While there may be other devices that can launch projectiles faster than the speed of sound, none has used air pressure alone,” explained Mr Ong Eng Huat, President of the Singapore Book Of Records.

Not only has BAD secured a record in the national body for record adjudication, BAD’s creators are also thrilled beyond words to know that it has potential applications, such as launching unmanned aerial vehicles at high speed.